The castle of the Willows Wind Manor was not large. Many of the guards were in fact non-cultivators. This was not unusual for a third tier celestial clan.
As Dongfang Jun made his appearance, there were many warm greetings from the guards and the commoners, "Master…Mister…finally you are back…"
It seemed that Dongfang Jun was quite popular.
There were many stares at Ye Jing and the Confession Lady as they were ravishing beauties and the people here had never seen anyone as peerless as them.
Some even made loud jokes, "It seems that Mister has brought a bride home this time round. Mister and the lady are really so compatible with each other."
Moreover in Ye Jing's group, there were even two golden celestials and everyone was in awe.
"Look everyone! We have two golden celestials visiting us!"
They had no idea the Celestial Liege and the Confession Lady were actually Great Saints, sacred saints that had reached the peaked of their celestial boundaries. If not, they would surely be more shocked. All they saw were their golden eyes and unless their saint auras were displayed, they had no way to tell the cultivation level of these two golden eyes celestials.
To a third rate celestial clan, attaining to the golden celestial level was hard enough. Attaining to a sacred saint level was like an impossible dream. Even Dongfang Jun did not think that that the Celestial Liege and the Confession Lady were anything but golden celestials. He dare not even think that two sacred saints would actually be visiting this part of the fraternity.
If he had known that there were actually three sacred saints in Ye Jing's group, he would surely faint on the spot!
Ye Jing may only be a half-step saintess but she was still considered to be on the level of the sacred saint now.
The residence of the Willows Wind Manor had a cozy feeling. There were many celestial practitioners, mostly low levels and they were reciting poems or holding a book in their hands. When they saw Dongfang Jun, they were all greeting with delight as they shouted aloud. "Master Teacher is back, greeting to master teacher!"
The clan master title of the Willows Wind Manor was actually Master Teacher.
One young female protégé grinned jovially, "Master Teacher, you have actually brought a girlfriend home? This is really the first time."
She appraised Ye Jing before smiling, "I am Luo Bihua. What is your name?"
Before Ye Jing could reply her, Dongfang Jun frowned lightly as he said sternly, "Go and ask everyone to tidy up the audience hall and to serve refreshments to my guests. Go now."
Luo Bihua giggled as she gave a courtesy but before she left, she raised her nose with an amusing smile, "Master Teacher is actually shy…" Then she ran off before Dongfang Jun could reprimand her.
Dongfang Jun coughed weakly as he gave a hand bow to apologize to Ye Jing and her group, "My people here are getting a little out of hand. Please pardon them."
Ye Jing politely gave a faint smile, "Not at all. They are frank with their feelings here. I like the feeling."
She stole a glance at Li'Er and Chu Yunfeng. There was a warm feeling here that could not be found in her clan. Li'Er was of course an exception. This Luo Bihua was so alike to Li'Er. As for Chu Yunfeng, he had been won over to her side. She still remembered that their first meeting was not entirely amicable.
When they had reached the audience hall, they were immediately greeted by an old steward who greeted Dongfang Jun hurriedly, "Master Teacher. They are?"
Judging from his inner core, Ye Jing saw that this old steward was an Immortal Celestial and was actually higher than Li'Er and even Chu Yunfeng who had recently just become an Initial Immortal Celestial.
When the old steward saw the golden eyes of the Celestial Liege and the Confession Lady, he immediately greeted panicky. "Great Celestials, my humble greeting to you. May I know your honorable names?"
The Celestial Liege smiled and said, "You may address me as Celestial Huan and this is my consort, Celestial Ye." He had purposed lowered his celestial level as not to frighten the old steward and to keep a lower profile.
The old steward quickly made a humble half bow, "Celestial Huan, Celestial Ye. Please pardon me for any disrespect and any inconsideration. If there is anything that you may want to request, you can speak to me directly."
The Celestial Liege said indifferently, "Alright then."
Then the old steward asked the others, "May I also know the names of all the respected fellows here?"
Dongfang Jun smiled and introduced for them, "This is Maiden Shen Zhen, this is Brother Yunfeng and this is Maiden Li'Er."
The old steward gave him another courtesy hand bow before he said to Dongfang Jun, "I hope that Master Teacher is well and has a rewarding trip."
Dongfang Jun smiled weakly, "Old Wang, I am well. I just have some minor injuries. Maiden Shen Zhen has actually saved my life."
The old steward was startled, "Then may your humble servant suggests that Master Teacher to go to the rest room first. I will look for Physician Huang Shenyi to look at your injuries…"
Dongfang Jun gave a weak smile, "Maybe later. I want to take them to my personal inner chamber first."
The old steward was shocked, "Isn't that…"
Dongfang Jun nodded lightly, "I have complete trust in them."
Ye Jing was smiling bitterly to herself when she had heard him. Did he know that along the way, she had ransacked dozens of celestial clans? She was only merciful this time round because she did not think that the Willows Wind Manor had anything worthwhile to take. Now she was feeling a little guilty…
The old steward sighed softly as he whispered, "I will go and see that the inner chamber is ready for the guests." By that he really meant to say was he would go and post more guards as an added precautious. But he was a little doubtful that even with all the combined strength of the available guards, they would be able to stop two golden celestials even if they were up to no good.
With that, the old steward went away with a heavy heart…
Dongfang Jun returned his glance to Ye Jing and said, "Have a seat first. Then I will…"
Ye Jing interrupted softly, "That is alright. I think we just want to have a look at the celestial painting first before we go. We can't really stay for long and we have other important matters to do."
She knew that she was rude but she had to steel her heart. She was really afraid that this warm hospitable place would corrode her mental will. After all, she was a villainess now and even though she did not have any malice for this clan, she no longer wanted to linger here anymore. The people here was too warm and she now felt guilty that she had caused havoc with a number of celestial clans like the Willows Wind Manor.
Most of these celestial clans did not have any profound treasures. Instead she had barged in just to cause fear and done quite a bit of destruction so that she could attract the attention of the Nine Celestial Fraternity and the Devil Isle. Her purpose was to establish the terror of the Goddess Palace to all the corners of the Nine Celestial Fraternity and to cause the intrigues of the celestial clans to surface so that the Divine Descendant would be averted.
Dongfang Jun nodded as he said, "Alright then. Please come after me."
Ye Jing was thinking, "I'm sorry. Maybe if this is an ambush to steal our celestial possessions then I will feel much better…"
After some time, they had reached the entrance of the inner chamber. The inner chamber was deep underground and there were many secret passageways and guards. It was not unusual to have such secret passageways in all the celestial clans.
Outside the inner chamber stood Old Wang the old steward and two inner protégés of the Willow Winds Manor. They stood respectfully at the entrance as Dongfang Jun walked them into the inner chamber.
The inner chamber itself was not large. It had a few other paintings, vases and books that were around it. The most glaring of all the paintings was the one that was glowing a silver gleaming in the middle section of the inner chamber.
Dongfang Jun smiled proudly as he pointed at that painting, "This is the Lofty Wind Mountains painting."
When Ye Jing saw it, she immediately knew that this was no ordinary painting. Exquisite was the word that could describe it. There were numerous mountains and clouds in the silver gleaming painting. But what was moving about this painting was that the clouds seem to be drifting slowly as though the painting was alive!
Ye Jing was truly astonished by it.
She had heard that only a master celestial painter that had reached an extremely high celestial state of divinity was able to create a vivid live painting. The creator of this celestial painting was really a profound master painter!
When Dongfang Jun saw that they were all captivated by this celestial painting, he smiled gently. "This celestial painting was actually created by my great ancestor, Dongfang Shang. He had a high accomplishment in painting. This was his first and last piece of celestial painting as well. It was said that he was able to surpass all his past state of divinities to reach the pinnacle due to an inspiration. Sadly to this day, no one else can create such a celestial painting and the celestial resources to create one are also lost."
Ye Jing nodded. Such a great celestial painting must have sapped all his mental energies…
Li'Er was gasping, "This is such a magnificent painting. Look, the clouds and the tiny trees are even moving…did you guys see that?"
Even the Confession Lady was saying, "This is truly remarkable."
Dongfang Jun quietly said, "Actually to be honest, other than this special effect, there is really nothing special about this celestial painting. It is only rare because this is a one of a kind painting. Because my great ancestor is a sacred saint, there are many that have thought this celestial painting must have some hidden profound secrets in it. I sincerely hope that the celestial painting will be able to give everyone the inspiration that you need for your cultivation breakthrough."
Ye Jing was clearly moved by the celestial painting as she said quietly, "Thank you for telling us all this…"
There was something that was stirring her emotions as she stared at the celestial painting. She could clearly sense a strong spiritual aura that was emanating from the celestial painting and this spiritual aura was stirring strong emotions from her…
Quietly, this celestial painting had become one with the Emptiness Translucence that was in her mind. Due to her high state of perception and the Emotion Divinity, she could sense the strong emotions of love and sorrow that came from this celestial painting. Why was that so?
She extended her divine sense to beyond the Transverse Divinity and the Seventh Sense Divinity as she perceived through the hidden layers of this celestial painting and was shocked when the first layer of visual was removed in her image of her Emptiness Translucence. Suddenly the mountains were moving and began to form huge floating landmasses that resembled the interior of the Empyrean Warrior Labyrinth!
This entire celestial painting was actually the map of the Empyrean Warrior Labyrinth!
Ye Jing was shocked beyond words as she stared at the image that was in her mind. Altogether, it seemed that the Empyrean Warrior Labyrinth had six levels. As her mind delved into the sixth level, she could feel an influx of spiritual force energies that were recharging her. The spiritual force was extremely rich on the upper levels of the Empyrean Warrior Labyrinth and she was greedily absorbing as much as she could. Immediately her mind was somewhat refreshed. If she could cultivate with this celestial painting for a month, she would be able to reach the Initial Sacred Saint level in no time…
As she stared at this celestial painting, her Emptiness Translucence had slowly broken through its divine boundary and had evolved to the Great Emptiness Translucence, doubling her celestial boundaries!
She was doubly shocked and was greatly appreciative that the Heaveness had chosen her as her successor and had imparted the Emptiness Translucence to her. This intricate divine skill was simply too godly, able to discern the many realities and situations of things. That was why the Heaveness was also said to be the greatest diviner in the celestial realm before she had ascended as an immortal.
Because of Ye Jing divine sense ability and her high state of divinity in perception plus that she had attained to the Great Emptiness Translucence, she had immediately noticed that there was a subtle layer that could not be seen easily. If she had not attained to the Great Emptiness Translucence, it was impossible to see the faint dots of the painting that formed another image.
And this image totally shocked her to the core…
What was it that she had seen that shocked her to the core?
It was because the beautiful alluring image of Celestial Teacher Yi Si had suddenly surfaced…
The strong love and sorrow that had come from the celestial painting was actually a depiction of the celestial master painter for her Celestial Teacher Yi Si…
Suddenly Ye Jing got a jolt. Don't tell me that that the person that her Celestial Teacher had wanted to see in the immortal realm was this Dongfang Shang?!
She remembered her Ancestress Ye had accidentally let slipped that there was someone that she had wanted to see for the very last time in the immortal realm. Maybe that person had met with a divine tribulation and he was dying?
There were tears in Ye Jing's eyes as she stared at the celestial painting…
This was not lost on Dongfang Jun as he quickly asked with concern, "Maiden Shen Zhen, what happens? Are…are you alright?"
Ye Jing turned to him and said emotionally, "I think that your great ancestor painted this celestial painting with a woman in his mind. Am I right? If I am not wrong then this Lofty Wind Mountains is actually a depiction of his time with her in the Empyrean Warrior Labyrinth. They seem to have the fondest of time together there."
Dongfang Jun was shocked beyond words, "How did you know? This is supposed to be a secret that no one knows…"
Ye Jing looked quietly at the celestial painting that was in front of her, "From this celestial painting, I can tell…"
Dongfang Jun was stammering, "It seems that Maiden Shen Zhen has really a high talent in appraising painting. I am truly impressed…"
Then he added in a low voice, almost too inaudible to be picked up. "I have heard that my great ancestor had left the woman with a broken heart. It was because at that time she did not know that he was already married…"
All of a sudden he was looking very pale as he said, "Excuse me. I got to go off first…"
Ye Jing nodded lightly as she returned her attention to the celestial painting again…
When Dongfang Jun had left the inner chamber, the Confession Lady was muttering softly. "So this is the celestial painting that is left behind by that man. In order to create such a painting, he must be a really accomplished master painter. It is no wonder that our niece will…" She left it unfinished, not saying a word more.
All of a sudden the Celestial Liege was standing next to Ye Jing and said, "There is something that I should let you know. Do you know that this Dongfang Jun is actually dying? He can live no more than seven days."
Ye Jing was suddenly stunned, "How is it possible? He looks alright except for a little pale. That Terror Beast can't possible hurt him that badly, right?"
The Celestial Liege solemnly said, "You may not know that I was once a dark celestial before. I can sniff the dying from miles away. He has serious internal injuries. If I am not wrong then all of his organs are severely damaged and he is only sustaining himself with some miracle pills."
The tears that were in Ye Jing suddenly dripped silently on her face, "This…he is such a good man…why must this happen to him?!"